Johnathan Mell

Education

Bachelor of Science in Economics --
University of Pennsylvania, the Wharton School, 2013Bachelor
of Science in Computer Engineering -- University of Pennsylvania, School
of Engineering and Applied Science, 2013

His undergraduate work was completed at the University of Pennsylvania, where he received his Bachelor's degrees in Economics (Entrepreneurial Management) from the Wharton School, and in Computer Engineering, from the School of Engineering and Applied Science in 2013. His undergraduate research was focused primarily on psychophysiological channels for game feedback mechanisms and on frustration in games and its effect on mood.

Johnathan’s current research focuses on the impact of social features of repeated negotiations with a computer partner. His work covers favor exchange, cross-cultural features, and temporal effects in an effort to make automated negotiators and emotive and realistic virtual characters. He is also interested in efficient designs for systems that are used by a non-AI "man behind the curtain", called "Wizard of Oz" systems. To investigate these questions, he has developed the IAGO platform, which serves as a framework for creating Virtual Agents that negotiate with humans.

Johnathan is published at AAMAS, IJCAI, AAAI, and ACII, and his IAGO platform was a finalist for Best Demonstration at AAMAS 2016. He is a recipient of the USC Merit Top-Off Fellowship, and is a student member of AAAI, IEEE, and IGDA. He has previously worked on human interface and training platforms for Disney Engineering, and intends to continue working at the intersection of entertainment, computation, and human interfaces.

More on IAGO, and how PinocchioAgent works:Mell, J.,Gratch, J.
(2017)
"Grumpy & Pinocchio: Answering Human-Agent Negotiation Questions through Realistic Agent Design", In Proceedings of the 2017 International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems
International Foundation for Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems.

Introduction to my work on favors and negotiation:Mell, J.,Lucas, G.,
Gratch, J.
(2015)
"An Effective Conversation Tactic for Creating Value over Repeated
Negotiations."
In Proceedings of the 2015 International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (pp. 1567-1576).
International Foundation for Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems.

Position paper on social VH:Mell, J.
(2015)
"Towards Social-Emotional Virtual Humans"
In Proceedings of the 2015 International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems
International Foundation for Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems.